Debate has been raging over at FSU about the new TES requirements and how damaging they'll be to less deep federations. Indeed, the smaller federations were very shortsighted when they voted to remove the preliminaries, as the ISU Council responded with these new minimums. The basic consequence is that idea that all federations have one spot at Worlds in each discipline, regardless of how they placed the year prior, is a thing of the past. The new TES Minimums are as follows

It seems to me that this will make for a much smaller roster of competitors at Worlds. If countries such as, say, the Philippines can't qualify anyone in a discipline, but there's still a maximum of three that any country can send, and those spots are designated by the prior year's rankings, then the total number of skaters won't be adjusted by skaters from any of the stronger federations, isn't that so?

While I understand that the ISU wants to uphold certain standards, this is self-defeating, it seems to me. For one thing, how will skaters from weak federations ever gain international experience? For another, how will skating build an audience in countries that don't get to send skaters? Surely there's a better way to keep competitions to a high standard.

I am reminded of Chinese pairs coach Yao Bin's first trip to Worlds. He and his partner came in dead last. But it was the view of skating excellence that he got at that competition that galvanized him to build China's pairs program into the marvelous entity it later became. Would we have had Shen and Zhao without that early international effort by Yao Bin and his partner?

We have the GP series for the elites but World Championships and the Olympics should encompass the whole world to include all the best skaters every nation can produce. Things go in cycles. While the U.S. is lamenting the demise of figure skating's popularity, it is currently hot in Japan, likely to continue on to China and one day back in the USA. Meanwhile, the sport should be inclusive to encourage and nurture pioneering talents from smaller newer federations. We need more hands to pass the torch around to ensure its health and growth.

As the new rules stand, does each Team Event member have to meet the TES requirements individually or as a couple?

We have the GP series for the elites but World Championships and the Olympics should encompass the whole world to include all the best skaters every nation can produce.

Meanwhile, the sport should be inclusive to encourage and nurture pioneering talents from smaller newer federations. We need more hands to pass the torch around to ensure its health and growth.

I have always enjoyed skaters from smaller federations at 4CCs and look forward to getting to see these skaters to improve in their own ways respectively each season. For instance Danielle Obrien & Gregory Merriman of Australia at 4CC was for me this past season, whose free dance to Glenn Miller medley I enjoyed and thought they progressed a lot under Pasquale and Anjelika!

I also don't like these kind of limitations, especially because countries with strong skaters aren't going to be able to send more athletes. So the net result is fewer skaters will be able to experience the magic of Worlds.

The change does address something that I don't like, which is when a marginal federation can send weak skaters on the strength of one athlete, when that athlete retires the following year. As an example, someone can win Worlds and if another teammate finishes just outside the top 10, they can send 3 skaters to next year's Worlds. If that World champion retires, then the federation can send 3 skaters who cannot compete for the top placements when stronger countries can send only 1 or 2. Yes, those countries cannot send more skaters if the World champion's country sends fewer, but at least there is some correlation between the strength of the current stable of skaters and whether they can go to Worlds.

Is skating so crowded, so hugely popular, that we need to find ways to weed out skaters and fans? I don't think so.
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A smaller roster is more cost effective in lots of ways... more average joes off the street are more apt to go to an event that is *maybe* 2 hours long instead of an entire day... with skaters they don't know/aren't elite...

We have the GP series for the elites but World Championships and the Olympics should encompass the whole world to include all the best skaters every nation can produce.

Wasn't it Skate Canada that threatened ISU to abolish Worlds-2013 after ISU canceled preliminaries? It seems to me that after such a blackmail ISU didn't have much of a choice than either 1. introduce high TES limit, or 2. beg Putin to say once again "That's not an expensive event" and host Worlds-2013.

I didn't follow the ISU Congress, so feel free to correct me if I got it wrong. To me the chronology of the events looks this way: small federations were childishly happy with the idea that preliminaries might get cancelled. It means their skaters will get a direct access to Worlds and free of charge, unike in preliminaries where federations have to pay to organizers if their skaters won't qualify. After the preliminaries got cancelled, Skate Canada said their word. Then the ISU introduced the high TES and small federations realized that they got screwed.

Qualification rounds exist in all major sports. It's simply normal to have them. All options that they offer now, like to take part in senior B event and get TES minimum, are not in fact the real options since they are not Worlds. What I don't get is why they cancelled preliminaries in the first place. If the reason is that some small federations in fact didn't pay for taking part in preliminaries when they were obliged to, ISU could simply disqualify those particuar federations from taking part in the following Wolrds preliminaries, unless they pay all their debts. But not to cancel preliminaries for everyone.

The statistic about Canada's ladies brings a thought to mind. Suppose that Osmond is still the only Canadian lady with the baseline score by Worlds, and Phaneuf wins Nationals. Phaneuf can't be sent, and Osmond has to go, even if she comes in, say, fourth?

I want to ask sth, maybe naive but isn't the minimum score minimum enough to include skaters up and coming anyway? I mean 20 and 40 score is possible for them no? Or did sth else changed also in the rules and I ve missed it?skaters with less than 20, how many were there last worlds? Preliminaries aren't even aired on tv..